BEFORE you start, read through these instructions so you know what’s coming. If you don’t have enough room in your oven for everything, you may need to adjust the timings by cooking dishes and keeping them warm.

The perfect Christmas dinner.

8am Take the turkey out of the fridge and bring it up to room temperature.

11am Put the oven on 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 and prepare the turkey, stuffing and the parsnips.

11.30am Put the turkey in oven. Make the white sauce for creamy herb carrots and put to one side.

12pm Baste the turkey, completely cover in foil and reduce the heat to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

1pm Baste the turkey again.

1.30pm Baste again and take off the foil.

2.20pm If you’ve got any vegetarians coming, start the onions now.

2.30pm Take out the turkey (you can tell it’s done if you give the leg a pull and it gives) and keep it covered. Now turn up the oven to 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7. Put the roasting tray with the oil in for the potatoes in to the oven. Put the sausage and bacon on a tray and roast.

2.40pm Carefully add the potatoes to the hot oil and roast. If you are steaming your Christmas pud (follow instructions on packet), rather than microwaving it, you will need to put it on now.

2.55pm Put the parsnips into the oven.

3pm Put the kettle on for the vegetables.

3.10pm Take out the sausages and bacon and keep warm. Put the Brussels sprouts on to steam. Turn the potatoes over.

3.15pm Put the carrots in steamer above the Brussels.

3.20pm Put the peas into the water at the bottom of the steamer. While the carrots and Brussels are steaming, fry the bacon for the peas. Heat up the white sauce then set aside. Heat the gravy and keep warm. Warm the plates.

3.28pm Take the Brussels and carrots out of the steamer and toss with butter. Put the white sauce over carrots. Pour the garlic and chilli mix over the Brussels. Drain the peas and add 1 tbsp of butter and salt and pepper, then mix in the bacon. Keep all the veg warm while you take out the potatoes ?and carve ?the turkey.

Tastetastic Turkey

3 onions

4 sticks celery

2 glasses wine

4.5-5.4kg (10-12lb) fresh turkey

200g butter

Salt and pepper

1 Put the vegetables and wine into the baking tray then slather the bird in butter, season really well and stuff with the stuffing (optional).

2 Then simply lay the beauteous bird on top of the veg and cover with foil.

Brussels Sprouts and Peas

Brussels sprouts and peas.

800g Brussels sprouts

2 tbsp butter

½ chopped chilli

1 garlic clove

800g peas

1 Steam the Brussels until tender. Heat the butter and a little oil in a frying pan. Fry the chilli and chopped garlic clove and then pour over the Brussels.

2 Steam the peas until tender. Fry the bacon and mix together.

Stripy Roasties

Stripy Roast Potatoes.

Allow three or four Desiree, King Edward or Romano potatoes per person

Vegetable oil

Salt

1 Peel the potatoes and cut them in half, then put each potato on to a spoon and cut two thirds through it (the spoon will stop the knife cutting right through the potato).

2 Pour enough vegetable oil into a roasting tin so it’s a couple of centimetres deep and then put into a hot oven.

3 When the fat is really hot add the potatoes and spoon the oil over them, then sprinkle with salt. Roast for 45 mins or until golden brown.

Sausage Balls

Bacon rolls and sausage balls.

500g sausage meat

1 tbsp dried sage

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1 Simply mix together and roll into balls. Bake for 20-30 mins until golden brown. If you don’t have room in the oven you can fry them in a frying pan.

Bacon Rolls

20 rashers streaky bacon

1 Just roll up, put on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes – easy.

Creamy Herb Carrots

Creamy Carrots.

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

600ml warm milk

1kg carrots, peeled, cut into even shapes

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp chopped chives

Salt and pepper

1 Melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan, whisk in the flour until smooth.

2 Slowly pour in the milk, whisking continuously for two minutes on a low heat. Set aside, then heat and serve.

3 Steam the carrots, stir in the herbs, season and pour over the carrots.

Perfect Parsnips with Hazelnuts

1kg parsnips

125ml veg oil

80ml maple syrup

200g chopped, roasted hazelnuts

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Peel the parsnips and then halve them down the centre.

2 Put the parsnips into a roasting tin. Pour the oil and maple syrup over the parsnips and mix them well, then sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top.

3 Roast the parsnips for 35 minutes, or until they are tender and golden brown.

Cranberry and Nutty Rice Stuffing

300g rice

2 tbsp oil

2 red onions, chopped

6 sticks celery, chopped

100g walnuts

Handful dried cranberries

4 tbsp chopped parsley

2 tbsp butter

300ml chicken stock

Salt and pepper

Cook the rice according to packet instructions, making sure you season it well.

2 Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onion until softened and then add the celery and cook for a few more minutes.

3 Add all the other ingredients and give it a good stir. Then either bake in a baking dish for 30 minutes or stuff the bird with it – make sure the stuffing is piping hot in the middle though.

Stuffed Onions

Handful of dried cranberries

4 red onions

Butter

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

3 sticks celery, chopped

1 garlic clove

Handful of basil

Handful of walnuts

400g feta, Stilton or goat’s cheese

1 Heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5. Put the cranberries into warm water for 10 minutes until they are puffed up and then drain and set aside.

2 Using an apple corer or sharp knife, core out the centre of the onion, leaving just two or three outer layers. Then rub them inside and out with butter and season with salt and pepper.

3 Put the onions standing up into a baking dish with a little water in the bottom and cover tightly with foil and roast until they are tender (about 25-30 minutes). Then turn the heat down to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3.

4 Meanwhile chop the cored out pieces of onion and fry in olive oil with the celery until softened. Then chop and add the garlic and cook until soft.

5 Stir in the cranberries, basil and walnuts, then crumble in the cheese. Remove the onions.

6 Stuff the onions with the cheese mixture and bake for another 20 minutes or so.

Christmas Pudding

Christmas pudding.

125g unsalted butter

1 tsp of good quality

vanilla extract

150g caster sugar

2 eggs and a yolk

220g of self-raising flour

Juice and zest of a lemon

4 tbsp very good quality lemon curd

Vanilla cream

1 Grease four individual pudding bowls then whisk the butter, vanilla extract and sugar together until it’s light and fluffy.

2 Whisk the eggs in one at a time then sieve in the flour and add the lemon juice and zest.

3 Put a layer of lemon curd at the bottom of the pudding bowls and then pour the sponge mixture on top of the curd and cover with foil.

4 Steam for 30-40 minutes then put to one side until you are ready for pud and then heat up in the microwave for a few minutes – make sure you take the foil off first. Turn upside down and serve with the vanilla cream.